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Off-Grid Ideas

 

This system may be able to heat our homes, greenhouses, hoop houses, etc. The bi-product after it is done "cooking" (which can last over a year) is soil! This sample used 14 yards of wood chips and 3 yards of horse manure. A "yard" is 3'X3'x3'. They cover the mound in straw bales for insulation. They use 800' of polytubing which costs about $1,000. This tubing can be used over and over again shown in this video here:

Portable home: Yurta Yurts, made in Canada takes a 17' diameter yurt and packs it in a 4' X 8' trailer. Very portable. I like this one because it's insulation cover is made with natural wool instead of vinyl. Wool is "breathable". Vinyl can trap mold. Seen in the pic below.

yurta yurts

Jason Barrett and Josh Martin explain how you go from high school students to building a straw bale home which will stand for 100 years. We built straw-bale panels to accommodate building code in southern Ontario and made them inside a warehouse to avoid moisture issues. We then used a forklift to transport on truck to the property site. Then a crane to swing onto home foundation. Our energy audit revealed our straw-bale walls were R50. A heater the size of a regular toaster could heat the 4,000 s,f. training centre and home. It also had a better fire rating than conventional wall systems.

Working digitally from the forest is a real possibility. Off Grid, tiny home, wood cabin, yurt, straw bale cabin, small Earthship, etc. It is all possible!

Just about 60 minutes from Project #2. Mount Cheminis seen in video below:

Stewed tomatoes: canning whole tomatoes easily for long term storage in the video below.

Canning chanterelle mushrooms: How to pressure can them and reserve wild mushrooms.

Spring time get together. We could have our very own spring time merry-go-round, seen in the video below.

It amazes me how something so conservative, so simple with strong family values, could create such controversy. It is not our loss. "How a cabin changed my life." video below.

We can get our refrigeration from the ground! I don't see why you couldn't do this from inside a cabin. Place it right in the ground, insulate around it so it keeps cold. Its that easy! Seen below.

One family's story of adventure and challenge living off grid.

We will be only using composting and incinerating toilets. Here are some facts about composting toilets.

Discovering the Boreal: Whether in Western or Eastern Ontario, the Boreal is a special place to find your path.

Some cool designs in this yurt. And it gives costs. Something to think about for around the $60,000 mark. A line of credit for $60,000 interest only monthly payment would be about $150. Paying down line of credit over 10 years would be about $650 per month including interest. Very good option

This is a great reminder of what we can do when we decide to make a start. Very inspirational.

Here is one model of a tiny home. There are tons of different homes like this one.

Ah, finally found a Canadian manufacturer. Also, looks like the best and nicest looking -- go figure. $2,500 CAD + HST + shipping from BC.

Make 80,000 on a quarter acre raising vegetables!

Hi Folks, Took this tent design (in video) to Greenstone Structural Solutions (Brandon, Manitoba: link below) and asked them if they could do a quote using this design with their R40 9.25 inch Insulation Composite Envelope (ICE) panels. Told them we need it to include both walls and roof. They said they could and came back with a rough quote of $3,000 CAD. They provide set up training and these panels can be carried in by hand if needs be and set up in a weekend. It could be a "starter" cabin until you add a larger addition. It could be heated with a Cubic Mini Stove ($649 CAD made in Quebec: link below) because of high insulation value.
https://www.facebook.com/greenstonebrandonplant/
Testimonial: https://www.facebook.com/greenstonebrandonplant/videos/297071087799829/
https://www.facebook.com/cubicminiwoodstoves/
Cooking on your Cubic:
https://www.facebook.com/cubicminiwoodstoves/videos/1089718574425358/

$10,000 line of credit total should also cover solar: This would mean monthly payments of under $200 for 5 years with minimum payments of interest only of $29.17 per month!

Low cost alternatives are endless!

An inexpensive, easy alternative. Made in Canada, of course. Biome is out of Quebec. They build these for provincial parks. But are also available to the public. Biome also does Yurts!